The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus to cut generally round objects into a selected number of sections determined by the configuration of the cutter blades associated with the device.
The present invention is particularly useful for rapidly sectioned fruit or vegetables such as, for example, apples, pears, oranges, tomatoes or potatoes.
Such devices are useful in applications where a high-speed cutter device is needed in the preparation of foods for further processing or for serving.
One such application is in food processing plants where various items of food, such as apples, pears, tomatoes or oranges, are cut into sections prior to further processing, for example, cooking or juicing.
Also, the advent of school lunch program nutritional standards necessitates in some cases the inclusion of fresh fruits and vegetables in school lunch programs and have led to high volume processing of fresh fruits and vegetables for mass feeding of students. In the case of school lunch programs, in part as a result of newly established standards as well as for purposes of economy, many jurisdictions now provide arrangements where lunches are packed at a central comissary and then delivered each day to the schools within the jurisdiction. The advent of such programs has resulted in the need and opportunity for high speed food processing and preparation equipment which can be efficiently utilized in the preparation of such lunches. Much of the foregoing applies to other situations such as hospitals or institutions of every type where mass feeding of standardized menus is utilized.
In any of the foregoing applications, the food processing equipment utilized must be designed and adapted to meet generally accepted, as well as local, sanitation rules applying to the preparation of food.
Various prior art devices are available for sectioning fruit or vegetables prior to further processing but insofar as presently known, such devices are complex, extremely expensive and generally require numerous moving parts with attendant maintenance and labor expense. Furthermore, no economical straightforward device is presently known to efficiently and rapidly slice fruits or vegetables into a selected number of sections prior to further processing or in the preparation of meals for immediate consumption.